News & Feature Stories
TWØBAYS: Five Years In Five Beers
Since 2018, TWØBAYS have been on a mission to broaden the beer offering for people who can't consume gluten. On their fifth anniversary, founder Richard Jeffares walked us through some of his favourite beers to date.
The Best Of Beer 2023: Victoria
It's time to kick off our annual jaunt around Australia to see who and what has stood out from the crowd in 2023. We start in Victoria with a selection of standout moments, beers, breweries and bars.
Getting Blind With Crafty: Influencer Beers
For our final blind tasting of 2023, we figured we'd do something a little different: with several new beers on the market associated with bands, brands or other famous figured, we decided to put them to the test.
The Year In Beer 2023
It goes without saying that 2023 hasn't been the year the beer world would have been hoping for, but let's try to make sense of it anyway, shall we?
Local Beer Day: Join Us For A Nationwide Celebration
Who's up for injecting some joy into the local beer world? We sure are, so we've created Local Beer Day and hope breweries, bars, bottleshops and beer lovers will join us and make it the biggest ever celebration of Aussie beer.
Netherworld Team To Launch Lost Souls "Theme Park" Karaoke
A new karaoke bar unlike any other is opening next to Brisbane's Netherworld. It features local beer, intricate art design, and "theme park level karaoke". You'll be singing to save your soul.
Who Brews Wild Barrel Beers?
Small batches, single barrels, slow processes, sustainable businesses. Mick Wüst took a look at Wild Barrel, based in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, for our long-running Who Brews...? series.
Cheeky Monkey Buy Sound Brewing From Administrators
There's been another significant move in the local beer world with Cheeky Monkey acquiring fellow WA operation Sound Brewing Co, two months after the Rockingham-based brewpub entered administration.
Brew & A: Gavin Williams of Black Brewing
Black Brewing Co are part of South West WA's vibrant brewing community, and earlier this year took out the Champion WA Brewery trophy at the 2023 Indies. We caught up with the head brewer behind their success.
Emily Usher Slays Beer
Slays Beer is a new series shining a light on younger members of the beer world: who they are, why they're in beer, how they think the industry could do better. Kickstarting our celebration of beer's next gen is Emily Usher from Deeds.
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Burnout And Beer: Paying The Passion Tax
Craft beer is often driven by passion but love for the industry can leave people burnt out and exhausted. We spoke to people who've experienced burnout: what caused it and how the industry can become a better place to work.
The Catfish: Ten Lessons From Ten Years
The Catfish is Melbourne's one and only home of cheesesteaks, blues and craft beer, each delight made better when enjoyed together. As the iconic Fitzroy bar turns ten, we walk down Memory Lane with founders Kieran and Mike.
Who Brews In The Brew Garage?
Another suburb of Perth has a brewpub to call its own with Brew Garage opening in East Victoria Park. Guy Southern dropped in to soak in the charms of a venue that's also an urban winery serving up damn fine pizzas.
Beerfarm Claim The 2024 WA Beer Of The Year Crown
Beerfarm's IPL, a WA craft beer icon, has been named Beer of the Year at the 2024 WA Good Food Guide Awards. It finished ahead of Phat Brew Club's Culture of Good Times and Rocky Ridge's Rock Juice V12 in this year's top 25.
Dainton Beer Enter Voluntary Administration
Dainton Beer have today become the latest brewing company to file for voluntary administration, citing the need to "deal with financial losses the business has accrued from ill-timed expansion in the face of declining consumer demand."
Crafty Crawls: WA's South West Part I
WA's vast South West is one of the best places to explore thanks to its beaches, diverse scenery and wineries aplenty. Better yet, the region is awash with local beer too, as we explore in an updated two-part Crafty Crawl.
Brewski: Ten Lessons From Ten Years
"Matt, don’t buy any more barleywines!" just about sums up a decade of Brewski. But for more on watching your intake, sleeping with your business partner and starting fondue fires, here's their Ten Lessons from Ten Years.
Former CUB Boss Leads Group Buying Jetty Road From Mighty Craft
A group including publicans, rugby players and comedian Mick Molloy, which is headed by former CUB CEO Peter Filipovic, has bought Mornington Peninsula-based Jetty Road from ASX-listed Mighty Craft.
Who Brews At Future Brewing?
A trip to Texas sparked Brady Hannett's love for West Coast styles, one that led him to study in California and start his brewing career in Monterey. Now he's at the helm of Future Brewing in Sydney, alongside partner Laura Howard.
Help Us Get Blind: Influencer Beers
For our last blind tasting of the year, we figured we'd have a bit of fun and do something a little different from the norm. With so many celebrity and influencer-tied beers on the market, we figured we'd put them to the test.
Crafty Crawls: Newcastle Part II
It's time for part II of our Crafty Crawl guide to the breweries, beer venues and bottleshops of Newcastle. Here, we start in Hamilton and end with views of the football stadium, traversing an area that's now home to five breweries.
The Matchmakers: Pairing Mussels With Witbier
The third entry in our Matchmakers series on beer and food pairing features a twist on a Belgian classic: mussels and witbier with the introduction of a fragrant vegan green curry.
Lone Gum Farmhouse & BeerNoEvil Find Common Ground
Their brands and their beers shared little in common, which the founders of Lone Gum Farmhouse and BeerNoEvil felt made them perfect housemates. We got a sneak peek of their long-awaited shared venue ahead of its opening.
Bad Shepherd's Founders Emerge From Administration Still In Control
Less than a month after appointing administrators, the founders of Bad Shepherd are out of administration, as of today, and remain in control of their business after their proposal was approved in a creditors' meeting.
The Exploding Cost Of Brewing Beer
To gain a greater understanding of the challenges facing brewers, we broke down the cost of brewing Hawkers' trophy-winning West Coast IPA, and how those costs have exploded in recent years.
AMSAT: Adelaide's New, Locally-Focused Maltster
AMSAT Character Malts is a new malting company based in South Australia which has just launched a range of specialty malts for craft brewers and distillers. But it's also steeped in malting history.
Crafty Crawls: North Melbourne
North Melbourne has never been short of boozers, but it didn't offer as much for the craft beer drinker as many of the city's other inner 'burbs. That's all changed now – there's even a small brewery – as Will Ziebell discovered.
Who Brews Village Days Beers?
Given the rise in brewing hubs across the city, you'd be forgiven for all parts of Sydney were well covered for local beer. But Village Days found an area in need, opening in Gladesville and leaving North Shore locals glad they did.
Getting Blind With Crafty: Mexican Lagers
For our Mexican lager blind tasting, we veered a little from our usual approach and included some of the biggest names in the world alongside the Aussies. The big question: could a local hero claim the crown...?
Be Part Of Pint Of Origin 2024
The Crafty Pint's annual celebration of the wide world of beer, Pint of Origin, returns to Melbourne from May 10 to 19 next year. If you'd like your venue to be involved, we're currently taking expressions of interest.
The Hop Selectors: Harvest Time In The Pacific Northwest
Some of Australia and New Zealand's top brewers have been in the US, touring hop regions and selecting the hops they reckon will work best in their upcoming beers. We chatted to two of them on their return.
Parachilna Brew Project: Brewing In The Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges are among the most spectacular, magical and spiritual places in Australia. They're also pretty remote. Yet, thanks to the family who've run the Prairie Hotel for 32 years, the region now has its own brewery.
Flying High: Flamin Galah’s Soaring Success
At a time when breweries are closing or sliding into administration, one young NSW operation is soaring. We caught up with Flamin Galah founders Sam and Claire at their glamorous, pretty-in-pink reinvention of an old Chippo pub.
Su Legno: Something New From Something Old
As the craft beer industry develops, there can be a tendency to feel like too many breweries are following the same hoppy and hazy path. Su Legno are a new Adelaide outfit forging their own path with a passion for wood.
Who Brews Great Hops Beers?
Great Hops' home in Armidale is an impressive dome shed on the outskirts of town filled with a bunch of "collected shit". It's popular with locals and a much-appreciated stop for anyone travelling through, as our weary writer discovered.
Keeping Live Music Alive
It's been a tough year for many indie breweries and the same can be said for grassroots live music venues. Combined with a rise in "indie washing", the situation has led The Wheaty and other SA venues to band together.
Sydney Beer Week To Return In 2024
Sydney Beer Week is to return in 2024, bringing to an end a six-year beer week drought for the city's beer lovers. We spoke to the duo behind its comeback about their plans to breathe fresh life into the city's beer scene next October.
Brew & A: Marcus Cox
Marcus Cox marks 20 years in brewing this year. We chatted to him about a career spanning the earliest days at 3 Ravens, launching breweries both sides of the Pacific, major trophies, and rescuing a brewery from floodwaters.
The Matchmakers: Pairing Food With Radlers
For the second entry in The Matchmakers series on beer and food pairing, the team at Molly Rose looks forward eagerly to summer, with a refreshing radler designed to go hand-in-hand with all-inclusive satay skewers.
Bad Shepherd Enter Voluntary Administration
Bad Shepherd have this week entered voluntary administration as they undertake a financial restructuring of the business. But the founders say it remains business as usual for customers and employees.
Chronically Crafty: Managing Health In The Beer Industry
Chronic medical conditions can be nonstop and balancing self-care with a passion that surrounds you with booze is a fine line to walk. Type one diabetic Will Ziebell speaks to people working in beer with chronic health conditions.
La Sirène's Reservoir Renaissance
Just 371 days on from opening Bar La Sirène in Alphington, Costa and Eva Nikias opened Bar La Sirène in Reservoir after a wild year of sudden closures, existential crises and, ultimately, a desire to keep the dream alive.
Behind Bars: Saccharomyces
It's like a German beer hall. Or a Belgian beer café. But it's mostly full of Aussie beer. But sometimes it's full of German or Belgian or American beer. It's Saccharomyces Beer Café, and there's not much like it.
WSET To Launch New Beer Qualifications In Australia
New beer courses are launching in Australia next year as global training organisation WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) add beer to their repertoire – and bringing Two Birds founder Jayne Lewis to their team.
Crafty Crawls: WA's South West Corridor
WA's South West is a popular holiday destination awash with wineries and breweries. These days, however, even the journey down to the region is paved with beer so here's a guide to the best beers along the South West Corridor.
Cerveza: Is The Next Big Thing In Beer ... Beer?
You've probably heard the word "cerveza" more than usual in recent weeks, and you'll hear it more in the coming months. But what exactly is it? And why are some brewers predicting a summer of cerveza?
Scholarships Made Beerable
Looking to learn more about the science of brewing? The founders of Science Made Beerable have launched a scholarship to give people eager to study a science-focused beer-related course a helping hand.
8 Wired's Wild Success
8 Wired beers have been found – and much-admired – across Australia for well over a decade now. After the brewery claimed both top trophies at the 2023 NZ Beer Awards, Michael Donaldson chatted to founder Søren Eriksen.
Currumbin Valley Brewing's Taproom Finally Opens
After seven years of brewing and a false start last year, Currumbin Valley Brewing have finally opened their taproom. We chatted to co-owner Smokey about their rustic, upcycled new space literally just around the corner from Balter.
The Beer Gear of Tmorrow
Band and brewery t-shirts have much in common; now thanks to a Sydney-based business, they're becoming more sustainable too. Learn how Tmorrow are turning clothing waste and plastic bottles into excellent tees.
